22: 2-16 – Because the food offered at the Tabernacle was holy, one needed to be in a holy condition to eat it. This means that not only was this food reserved for the priests (who typically didn’t have another source of food to rely on) but the priests also had to undergo a series of purification rituals before they could eat. If you were ever frustrated by your parents making you wait to eat dinner until after saying grace, just be glad they didn’t making you bathe and douse yourself with anointing oil before each meal.

22:17-25—It’s important that the animals offered as a sacrifice are the best of the best- an “unblemished” bull is a bull in perfect health who could either be sold for a very high price, or could be used to breed more healthy cattle, so it’s very valuable. In contrast, a bull (or ram) that’s “blemished” has some kind of defect- maybe a disease of some kind. No one is going to buy it and nobody wants to use it for breeding, so it has no value: it wouldn’t much of a sacrifice at all.

Chapter 23: All of these festivals are still celebrated in the Jewish community today.